The invention relates to a card wheel for a knitting machine for making knit goods with combed-in fibers, consisting of a wheel body with a cylindrical circumferential surface and card clothing fixed thereon, the card clothing consisting of a band of corresponding width and of wire hooks embedded in the latter.
Known card wheels of this kind (DE-OS 31 33 280) offer chiefly the advantage that they permit a more uniform fiber density in the knit goods made with them than do conventional card wheels which are provided with spirally wound and therefore usually irregularly disposed card clothing. This is especially true when the hooks, as seen in the circumferential direction, are inserted into a band of constant width. It is true that problems are still encountered in achieving a sufficiently secure, i.e., non-slipping and distortion-free fastening of such card clothing onto the card wheels. Fastening the clothing by cementing has the additional disadvantage that the band, which is of a textile nature as a rule, is attacked by the adhesive and that the wheel surface would have to be cleaned when the card clothing is replaced. It is therefore disclosed in DE-OS 34 07 392 to lay a rectangular strip of card clothing onto the circumferential surface of the wheel, bring together the two ends of the card clothing with the formation of a narrow seam running parallel to the wheel axis, and clamp the ends together by driving clips through the material. The consequence of this method of fastening, however, is that the clips driven into the band affect its elasticity, so that the card hooks disposed in the area of the seam perform differently in the incorporation of the fibers than the card hooks in the other areas. In addition, the clips driven into the card clothing entail the danger of damaging the latter when it is tightened to the degree needed to assure its slippage-free installation on the wheel. But if the tightening force applied is low enough to reliably prevent damage to the card clothing, the strength of adhesion in those sections of the card clothing that are outside of the area of engagement of the clips is not sufficient to exclude the danger of card clothing distortions, wrinkling or the like, during operation. Lastly, card wheels using the above-mentioned clips are complicated and expensive.
The invention addresses itself to the task of proposing a method of fastening by which the card clothing can be fastened on the card wheel of the kind referred to above such that it will lie in a slippage free manner against the entire circumference of the wheel, that no distortions will occur during operation, no expensive modifications of the conventional wheels will be necessary, and that damage to the card clothing will be securely prevented.